episode_0270

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—…So, uh… You like someone?

After pretending to confess under the influence, I averted my gaze from their eyes and instead locked onto the beer cans beaded with condensation.

Maybe it was because the situation felt vaguely familiar. The lines from the movie I watched with Yozora a few days ago looped endlessly in my head.

Not that I remembered them clearly—I’d been too focused on the male lead the whole time…

But anyway, it was the scene where the female lead, after realizing her friend also liked the male lead, reaffirmed her own feelings for him.

In situations like this, most people wouldn’t exactly feel positive about their crush overlapping with someone else’s.

Even if it was just a passing attraction,

even if their ideal types aligned,

the core of it wouldn’t change.

“……”

I knew that all too well, which was why I couldn’t bring myself to look at either of their faces.

At best, I engaged in a staring contest with the beer can before reluctantly shifting my gaze to the table.

…This is so annoying.

Yozora, you crazy bitch. You orchestrated this on purpose just to see me squirm, didn’t you?

I briefly considered tacking on a “Just kidding” even now, but realizing too much time had passed for that, I pressed my lips together.

Now… I have no idea how to clean this up.

Sure, it was all because of Yozora’s pressure.

And yeah, I did end up naming Seo Woojin instead of some random person.

…Yozora, whose brain is filled with nothing but filth, will obviously be fine with it.

But Han Sua, with her perfectly ordinary sensibilities—

What if she…

…

…feels a little upset that our ideal types overlap…?

“R-Really…?”

“…?”

—Or so I thought.

But Sua’s delayed response carried none of the disgust I’d expected.

If anything, how should I put it—

“But, um… If more people join in… my turn might…”

Less “I liked him way before you” and more like—

The reaction you’d have if you accidentally showed up in the same outfit as someone else.

Her tone was filled with nothing but a loose, almost nonsensical emotion, far below what I’d braced for.

Wondering if I’d misheard, I hesitantly lifted my gaze and met Sua’s eyes—her lips hidden behind the beer can she was clutching, making small, flustered noises.

…At the edge of my vision, Yozora grinned silently.

“What do you mean, more…?”

“Seoyeon. Seoyeon.”

“Huh?”

Like gears grinding out of sync.

Just as I opened my mouth to untangle the mess, Yozora—who’d been watching the situation with glee—cut in.

“You wanna get close to Woojin too, is that it?”

“…That’s not what I meant. You asked for my ideal type, so I answered honestly.”

“No, no, I’m just curious! Purely hypothetical, you know? If, もし. Get it?”

“……”

“If you had the chance to get close to Woojin, would you want to?”

“He’s a rare healing type, so I wouldn’t mind some level of friendship. Obviously.”

“Then, setting all that aside—as a man?”

“……”

The answer was already decided.

I had zero interest in getting close to him.

…Well, appearance-wise—

Putting everything else aside, his looks were somewhat tolerable, but…

The personality inside was so far below standard it wasn’t even funny.

If he didn’t have trashy hobbies like collecting sex partners and was just a diligent health teacher…

Sure. There’d be a one-in-ten-billion chance I might have found him mildly appealing.

But the real Seo Woojin is a perverted bastard who adds women to his roster on a whim.

Not to mention the awful things he did to me when I was in heat…

So no. Not a chance.

“…Not really. I only said he’s close to my ideal type, not that I want to get close to him—”

“Really?”

But Yozora was determined to wring a YES out of me, even if it meant dredging up secrets.

Which was exactly why I said NO.

Being played by Yozora from start to finish wasn’t exactly my idea of fun.

“Earlier, you said he’s close to your ideal type, but now you don’t wanna get close to him?”

“……”

“Something’s not adding up…”

And what if it doesn’t?

You said it yourself earlier—

Just because someone’s good-looking doesn’t mean you have to like them.

Maybe Yozora knew that too, because she didn’t push further with unreasonable pressure.

Instead—

“If you don’t wanna get close, fine… Can’t force you. Don’t get it, but if that’s how you feel.”

“……”

What’s she scheming now?

She gave up suspiciously easily, then—

Half-lidded eyes fixed on me, she tilted her head back and gulped down the cold beer.

Glug, glug.

“Huuuuh… Sua-chan and I are already super close with Woojin, though~”

“Ah, wait—”

“……”

Wiping the cute beer foam from her lips with the back of her hand,

she scooted across the floor (the low table in front of the sofa made sitting properly impossible)

until she was pressed right up against Sua—whose cheeks were flushed from alcohol—

then wrapped an arm tightly around her waist.

“We’re so close with him, we’re basically sex partners… Right…?”

“……”

I’d known, at least in fragments.

But hearing it put so blatantly—

“Though lately… Sua-chan’s been seeing him way more than me. Kinda jealous~”

“N-Not that much…”

“Ohhh? So you admit it’s more?”

“…Well… I can’t exactly say no…”

“Ughhh… You went at it like crazy with Woojin just the other day, didn’t you…? Admit it.”

“W-Wait, if you touch me there, I’ll—… Nngh…”

“You totally seduced him with these huge things…”

“Yours are plenty big too… Hah…”

Now fully pressing Sua’s back against her chest in a tight embrace—

…kneading Sua’s breasts so aggressively it’d make anyone think weird thoughts—

Yozora kept talking.

Not drunken rambling,

but words that sounded like they were describing real events.

“I didn’t seduce him… Really…”

“Liar… There’s no way you didn’t know guys stare at these… Woojin’s no different…”

“But Teacher… looks at my eyes more than my chest… Ah, wait—… S-Stop teasing…”

I knew they were both his sex partners.

But what the hell does “so close we’re sex partners” even mean?

There’s something fundamentally wrong with equating “sex partners” with “close.”

My alcohol-dampened brain struggled to make sense of it, but no clear conclusion came.

…At best, it felt like “extremely close = close enough to be sex partners.”

The kind of logic only someone completely clueless about sex would nod along to.

“What’s the big deal? …Woojin touches you way worse than this.”

“Not really…”

“I’m just lightly grazing over your clothes, but he gets to grab your bare tits however he wants, right…?”

“……”

“Or what… Wanna touch mine too, Sua-chan? I’ll even undo this for you…”

“T-That’s not the solution I wanted, idiot…!”

Could Yozora really have dragged Sua down this path using such absurd methods?

Was Sua that innocent—naive to the point of stupidity?

Watching her shove Yozora away with high-pitched, schoolgirlish protests, I still couldn’t tell.

I’d learned she was shyer than first impressions suggested and that she liked pure romance manga, but…

…How the hell would I know the rest?

Unless I’d known her from the start, all I had to go on was her profile from the “Notable New Students” list.

And it’s not like it said “Doesn’t know what sex is” under her details.

But if both of them were in that kind of relationship with Woojin yet still acted like this…

…Maybe.

Just maybe.

“Stop… It tickles… …Yozora…”

“…You sure it’s just tickling?”

“……”

……Maybe I’m drunk too.

Getting hung up on nonsense and making weird assumptions—very Yozora-like of me.

Besides, huh? It’s not like I’m going to become that guy’s sex partner, so why…?

At most, it’s just—

Even if you simplify it with a term like “sex partners,” shouldn’t it really be seen as a patient-doctor relationship?

Or, more rigidly, victim and perpetrator.

That pervert who made me go into heat on a whim.

…The one who defiled my first kiss and virginity.

Me.

“…I don’t wanna see this, so get off Sua. Yozora. Sua doesn’t like it either.”

“Ah, yessir. Understood, Seoyeon-senpai, whose ideal type is Seo Woojin~”

“Pretty sure I clarified it’s not my ideal type. …Just close.”

“…Pfft. Close. So close~”

“And… If you’re done drinking, get ready to leave. You weren’t planning to sleep here, were you?”

“Ehhh? There’s still some left, though? Already?”

“Then drink up. And what do you mean, already? It’s almost midnight.”

“But…”

Shaking my head, I downed the last of my beer, soothing my parched throat—dry from all the unnecessary heat.

Then I got up and headed straight to the kitchen.

Steadying myself against the wall with slightly unsteady steps, I grabbed a bottle of cold water from the fridge.

On my way back to the table—

“Such a waste… If Seoyeon wanted to get close to Woojin too, we could’ve added one more… Sex partner.”

Because of Yozora, who said such absurd things just to be heard.

Because of Sua, who heard those absurd things and didn’t even bat an eye, just kept drinking.

Because I’d just heard confirmation that my ridiculous speculation was 100% accurate—

…I slightly.

Tripped over my own feet.

“Ah, you okay? Did you twist your ankle?”

“…Twist what? If I had, I’d have fallen.”

“Really?”

I didn’t twist it.

I just stumbled because the things I was hearing were too absurd.

The fact that “sex partners” seemed to carry the same weight as “best friends” to them.

The fact that they could so casually accept another girl joining their “sex partner” dynamic.

Even if it’s not the same as romantic partners, that’s still… …It doesn’t make sense.

Not that I have a sex partner to compare, but if I did—

I’d want them to only be with me.

Not out of jealousy or anything.

Just…

…

…That’s normal, isn’t it?

Even if you think of them as best friends instead of sex partners.

Seeing them act closer with someone else—

Feels a little bad.

“I knew it~ Should I call Woojin before it gets too late…?”

“Don’t. Let’s go.”

“Huh? Already? You just said to get ready?”

“I changed my mind.”

“Wait, but— Hey, stop— That tickles…!”

Her tone made it obvious she was still trying to link me and Woojin somehow.

Refusing to entertain her nonsense any further, I nudged her thigh away with my socked foot.

“…Here. Water.”

“Ah… Thank you…”

To Sua, who knew nothing—

I handed her the cold water.

“……”

Belatedly.

Very belatedly.

I noticed my ankle—the one I’d slightly twisted—

was starting to throb faintly.

Making sure Yozora didn’t notice—

I hid it.